Page 43 of On Everything
“Well, I’m glad you two are good.”
“Thanks, what can I get for you today?”
“Can I get a honey, turkey, and cheese on a roll with extra cheese. Hot?”
“Sure thing.”
He started working on my sandwich and within two minutes he had wrapped it up from the grill. I grabbed a strawberry Fanta, and a bag of jalapeno cheddar chips. Surprisingly, Papi gave it to me for free like the sweetheart he is, and I was on my way back home.
I was walking minding my business and munching on the bag of chips when I heard someone whistling from the street.
“Hey, wifey!”
When I turned to his voice, I saw it was Hov in a different car than I’d saw him in recently, holding up traffic in the middle of the street.
“Yes?”
“Don’t yes me from way over there. Bring your pretty ass over here.”
I rolled my eyes playfully and walked over to his car.
“Get inside, I only bite where you like it.”
He flashed a smile at me, and my ass was cheesing right back.
I’ve noticed that Hov smiles a lot when he’s talking to me, but anytime he’s having a conversation with anyone else, he looks cold and mean. Shit, he wasn’t even smiling when he got out of the car with Jas after I’m sure he got his dick sucked. Shewas a proud hoe and I knew her because of her hoeing her way around Brooklyn. If I’m not mistaken, she’s related to Crew, but I don’t know how.
“Why are you on my side of town, Hov?”
“Because you’re here. I went to your job to get you at 5:00, but some white bitch told me you’d already left for the day.”
“How did you know I got off at 5:00?”
“I looked online and saw what time the center closed, and I decided to come give you a ride home.”
“What, you don’t think I know how to get home safely?”
“Nah, not being my woman.”
I pushed him playfully because I knew he was joking. I noticed Hov had a dimple on his right cheek that was much more defined than the one on the left. It was odd, but it made his face unique in a way.
Gazing around the car, I was admiring the wide dashboard, leather seats, and tinted windows from inside the car. It wasn’t until I noticed the rifle tucked on the left side of the passenger seat that it became uncomfortable in here and I started to panic.
“Oh, my Goodness, Hov. Get it away! Get it away. I’m so scared of those things! Please get it away.”
I froze up, thinking if I moved one inch now, I was going to make the gun start to fire.
“Chill mama, chill. This is here to protect you, not to hurt you. I have to put my finger on the trigger for it to shoot. Why you so scared of guns?”
He laughed, moving the gun to the backseat.
“I don’t know. I guess because I grew up around here, and hearing people get shot all the time got me timid as hell. And then what happened in my apartment didn’t make it any better.”
“Was that the first time you saw someone get popped?”
“Yeah, well up close.”
He nodded his head, turning the steering wheel to go around cars like he owned the road. Hov was fine standing up because he’s so tall, but he was even finer sitting back in a slight slouch while driving this car. He had one hand on the wheel and the other placed on the center console that was crowned with an expensive watch. The glimmer from his watch shined just as bright as his necklace, and every motion he made caused the necklace to glisten even more in the sunlight. Me and Kairo never had a car, so I never got a chance to experience this feeling with him. That calm, nonchalant, passenger seat princess feeling of sitting back and not having to worry about getting off the bus or the train at the right stop. After he moved that gun, this car was back to being the perfect shuttle.
